"This is Where I Leave You" (A-)

I was in a mood for what I'll call a literary comedy. Something like "Then We Came to the End." [A short interlude. Is it just me, or is the title, "This is Where I Leave You" (six words) a lot like "Then We Came to the End"? Is there any doubt as to why I found myself comparing the two novels? Anyway.]

I just finished "This is Where I Leave You" by Jonathan Tropper. There are one and two word excerpts from back cover book quotes on the dust jacket. Leaving aside the self-serving "Brilliant"-type excerpts, I think that "Darkly Comic," "Wickedly observant" and "Brutally honest" are the most accurate.

The setting for the novel is the aftermath of the death of a family patriarch. The family patriarch, Mort Foxman, not terribly religious in life, had a dying wish that his family--wife, daughter and three sons--sit shiva for him. Like most families, the Foxmans can be called Dysfunction Junction. Over the week of sitting shiva, family secrets are revealed and family resentments are revisited. The tone, though, despite often heavy subject matter, is light and humorous, producing a fun and rewarding read. "Witty" (as another one worder states on the back cover).

I know that it looks like I'm engaged in some "grade inflation" here as I've been fortunate enough to have selected very good books one after the other in the last few months. I'd like to keep it going because there are unfortunately times when it feels like I haven't read a great book in a long time.